Construction of integrative transcriptome to boost systematic exploration of Bougainvillea

Members of the genus Bougainvillea are rich sources of natural dyes, pigments, and traditional medicines. They are also commonly used as ornamentals in roadside landscape construction. However, the horticultural development of Bougainvillea flowers with extended growth periods and coloration is not always feasible. One reason is limited molecular knowledge and no genomic information for Bougainvillea. Here, we compiled an integrative transcriptome of all expressed transcripts for Bougainvillea × buttiana Miss Manila by integrating 20 Illumina-sequencing RNA transcriptomes. The integrative transcriptome consisted of 97,623 distinct transcripts. Of these, 47,006 were protein-coding, 31,109 were non-coding, and 19,508 were unannotated. In addition, we affirmed that the integrative transcriptome could serve as a surrogate reference to the genome in aiding accurate transcriptome assembly. For convenience, we curated the integrative transcriptome database for Bougainvillea, namely InTransBo, which can be freely accessed at http://www.bio-add.org/InTransBo/index.jsp. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the most comprehensive genomic resource for Bougainvillea up-to-date. The integrative transcriptome helps fill the genomic gap and elucidate the transcriptional nature of Bougainvillea. It may also advance progress in the precise regulation of flowering in horticulture. The same strategy can be readily applied toward the systematic exploration of other plant species lacking complete genomic information.